News

One of Forest Forge’s unique Creative Learning projects, elevate has been taking place this month. elevate is our work experience project that sees twenty local school students visit Forest Forge for two weeks to create a new piece of theatre. This year the group of young people have worked together to devise a show called ‘Fit!’ which is concerned with the concept of body image. In addition to the fifteen cast members taking part, five BTEC students joined the company to carry out the technical aspects of the show.

Welcome to the new season at Forest Forge. We have an exciting summer season planned, with lots of new creative workshops and summer schools for all age groups - please contact us for more details. The Gap group will be performing Kafka’s ‘The Trial’, in an exciting and physical new production; our work experience production Elevate, for Year 11 students, will be exploring body image.

Our family winter touring show this year is a reworking of ‘Hansel and Gretel’, which was a sell-out success at Poole Lighthouse last Christmas, and will be produced in association with an exciting new company - BumbleFly. In the autumn you will see us out and about hosting folk dance evenings - all leading up to our new play ‘UpBeat’, by the award winning writer Deborah Gearing, which will be touring to venues in the spring 2016. Join us for an evening of live music and storytelling, of heart-warming, tender and funny riverbank stories to send you dancing home!

Since they started out thirty four years ago with—so it’s rumoured—props, scenery and costumes having to be stored in the artistic director’s mum’s garage for lack of more suitable facilities, Forest Forge has forged ahead, establishing a reputation which makes every new production an unmissable date in the diary. (Did they really perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream to schools with just four actors all those years ago? Now that really was fun!)

And they don’t make things easy for themselves, artistic director Kirstie Davies, manager Gale Gould and their team. It’s not just productions, but they also have a thriving youth theatre and drama group for under-twenty-ones and a lovely mixed group called Act Your Age. There’s no upper age limit to this one.

RAILWAYS evoke memories – memories of journeys, arrivals and departures, meetings and partings, new adventures and old routines. Leaves On A Line, the new touring show from Forest Forge, draws on all these strands and motifs in a multi-layered play with music. It is touching, funny, exciting and thoughtful.

There are fragments of traditional fairy tales, serious thoughts about who we are and where we come from, songs and anecdotes, vivid pictures, questions about art and culture and a mystery that slowly unfolds.

THIS specially written piece, centring round a now disused railway station and inspired by the classic film Brief Encounter, was created in part by showing the film to a variety of groups and asking them to write letters to the company in answer to the question “What are you waiting for?”, as well as gathering people’s memories of the railways in Hampshire and talking to model railway enthusiasts about their passion.

That research gave writer Dinos Aristidou, designer David Haworth and director Kirstie Davis a wealth of material to work with, and the resulting play makes for a fascinating evening, telling its story through words, music, song and what is almost at times a magic lantern show.

Sitting in rehearsal is both exhilarating and terrifying suddenly your words are transformed into action. The voices in your head have become real! You hear words afresh, see the play from a new perspective as the director, designer, actors, tech team begin to bring the world alive. You listen to every word and hear things you hadn’t heard or thought of before. It’s wonderful sitting in the Forest Forge space watching it all unfold because there’s such a strong sense of collaboration as everyone works together and the production develops at such a pace. The actors bring so much to the piece with their interpretations so that I feel I see my own writing afresh. Kirstie works both on the text and on the shape of the piece simultaneously and she’s open to ideas, changes, edits, restructuring so you really feel part of the evolution of the play. The hardest thing is of course knowing when to shut up because you could be doing rewrites forever!

So we are going ot have our final dress this afternoon having worked on some bits this morning. It is a difficult piece for the actors as there are a lot of costume changes and props/set changes to get their heads around and also it is a fast show! But they are doing brilliantly and I just know that it will look smooth even if chaos is happening back stage! Lucy Sewill was in yesterday taking some gorgeous photos- some of which I have put up on this blog. So this time tomorrow the set will be being taken down and put in the back of the big, blue van and the tour will begin. Christmas really is just round the corner...

Woman of Flowers is now out on the road. Kaite O'Reilly shares her feelings with us one week into the tour:

So we have officially opened and are receiving fantastic responses on twitter, which you can read here. We’ve had lots of accolades through the more official channels, with Lyn Gardner on her Guardian theatre blog picking us out as one of the week’s top tickets and there’s a fascinating interview with Sophie Stone on the BBC Ouch blog here. Sophie and I will be guests on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour tomorrow morning, 24th September, at 10am, talking about the show and our creative collaboration with director Kirstie Davis.

Turning written text into visual, physical language – transforming words on the page into signs and gestures that take flight…. I love working with Jean St Clair. In her London apartment this week, I worked with her and Sophie Stone, transforming written text from my new play Woman of Flowers into flowing, beautiful visual language.

Although I’ve been working with Jean now for a dozen years on translation and recreating English text into theatricalised sign, I always feel very privileged to be part of the process. We last worked together on Forest Forge’s production of my play peeling, also directed by Kirstie Davis. It’s wonderful to have Jean as our creative sign director.

We have had the first read through of Woman of Flowers to a small invited audience. It was great for the creative team to hear the piece out loud and to have ideas from the actors in the room. Here are some pictures of the day:

Forest Forge are delighted to announce that they have been awarded a grant from the Arts Council in order to tour Woman of Flowers by Kaite O'Reilly in the autumn of this year. The company put a call out a few months ago to our supporters in order to raise some match funding in order to support this application. We were delighted with the response and amazed by the generosity of the 135 people who gave us £13,741 in a week. Thank you so much- we couldn't have done it without you. The next step in the project is a rehearsed reading on the 27th June at 6pm at Salisbury Playhouse. We will then go into rehearsals on the 26th August and the show opens on the 17th September and will tour until the 1st November. So look out for Woman of Flowers coming to a venue near you!

Forest Forge are welcoming young and old to be a hands on part of the Spring 2014 tour.

We are exciting to be looking for volunteer ambassadors who will experience the glamour of touring first hand while helping the company. We are looking for enthusiastic people to come out on the Battle Lines tour with us and be part of the Forest Forge family.

Ambassadors will work front of house and help us to reach new audiences, by welcoming audience members, carrying out audience research, supporting our community events and generally be part of our public-facing activities as we make and tour new plays over the next three years.

If you would like to get involved then there is more information on our website:

Forest Forge is about to launch Battle Lines, a project which will draw on the stories of the people and communities of Hampshire to inform a trio of plays that will tour the county in spring 2014. Developed in partnership with The Spring in Havant, Forest Arts in New Milton,The Lights in Andover and Winchester University, Battle Lines is an in depth exploration of Hampshire during 100 years of conflict – from World Wars I and II, through to modern day warfare.

The project is launching with a series of Tea Dance events which are an open invitation to all to get involved by sharing personal memories, family stories or communal histories. With a live jazz-era band, dance lessons from Forest Forge Choreographer Junior Jones, and tea and cake for all, these events are a chance for both young and old to explore the impact of war on individuals and communities.

A great BBC blog from writer Gary Owen about writing Free Folk. If you live in / have ever visited the New Forest you know exactly what he is talking about when it comes to the stillness and the mystery of the place. One of many reasons why we love creating our work here. The show is going far and wide over the next few weeks but will be back in Hampshire in the week of the 21 October.

As part of 'Free Folk', Forest Forge has worked with NativeHQ to develop an interactive digital map.

The map has been designed to enable members of the public to share their stories. Linking in with the main themes of 'Free Folk', what we're asking is: did you stay or did you leave? And more importantly was it your choice? Somewhere, someone, some time in your life - we want to know!

The company is continuing its commitment to training emerging theatre makers, extending the role to become a full time paid position for the first time. The position will start in October and is a sixth month contract.

After a couple of months rest, we're well into making preparations for the next big show, Free Folk. We're pleased to announce that Kirstie will be taking on two assistant directors for the duration of rehearsals, as part of our ongoing work developing new talent.

Kirsty Sellers, who acted as one of our assistant directors for The Boy At The Edge Of The Room as her final year placement, was incredibly successful achieving a 2:1 overall and a highly impressive 85% in her placement module:

We are delighted to have received a Strategic Touring fund from Arts Council England. We were one of only 9 organisations nationally to receive the funding.

Over the next three years, in collaboration with three arts centres across Hampshire and the University of Winchester the funding will allow us to create and tour a show every spring. The three venues are The Spring in Havant, The Lights in Andover and Forest Arts in New Milton.

We're pleased to see the issue of access in theatre being raised in this interesting article by Disability Arts Online, and are of course very proud to see our 2011 production of Kaite O'Reilly's 'Peeling' mentioned.

Our next Youth Theatre venture is a family theatre day on 20th July in Ringwood. Our oldest members of youth theatre are currently working hard creating 3 new performances for children. Sunshine Storytime will be a sensory piece for under 3 year olds and will take them and a teddy of their choice to the seaside using story, rhyme and movement to involve the audience. For the under 7's there will be a puppet version of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina narrated by puppets, performed by puppets in a magical piece of storytelling. And finally there is Story Quest, a promenade adventure for under 11's in which the audience get to take part and influence the story. These performances will repeat all morning so there will be plenty of opportunity to catch them all.

As well as all this theatrical fun, members of our youth theatre will be on hand to teach circus skills, do facepainting, and the ever popular interactive games will be back - the Human Fruit Machine returns!

Tonight marks the opening of The Gap's first production, 'Alice' by Laura Wade.

The Gap is one of Forest Forge's Creative Learning projects, formed of young people from our Youth Theatre who have taken gap years after leaving school. Forest Forge has offered them the opportunity to form a theatre company and stage a show in a professional space with the help of its staff.

Join us to find out about making you and your organisation accessible and welcoming to those on the Autistic Spectrum.

On the 21st March and the 30th April, Forest Forge are presenting two one-day training sessions that will include real and practical guidance on Autism Awareness and its applicaiton in the Arts. Each day will include Autism Awareness training from Hampshire Autistic Society.

Rehearsals for 'The Boy At The Edge Of The Room' are now a week underway.The songs and choreography are coming along and progress is looking amazing. We even managed a staggered run at the end of the first week!

pool (no water) is the Forest Forge Youth Theatre's Group 5 show of 2013!

Writen by Mark Ravenhill and commissioned by Frantic Assembly in 2006, pool (no water) is about “The Group”, a collective who met at Art school ten years ago. While meeting up with an incredibly successful friend, old rivalries and unspoken resentments flare up and the visit takes an unexpected turn, leading them to question what constitutes Art and how far can a friendship be pushed.

We have had a great review from The Stage and continue to get excellent audience feedback for Midnight is a Place. There are only four weeks left to see the show so brighten up your January by booking tickets and then tell us what you thought, we love to get audience feedback.

Forest Forge will be working hard at the start of next year to give its fundraising efforts a big push. By the end of the financial year, we're aiming to raise a massive £3000! After bounding around a few ideas here at Forest Forge HQ, we've got a couple of great events coming up for everyone to enjoy.

At the start of the new year, Forest Forge will be running a Spring raffle with a fabulous selection of prizes up for grabs. The top prizes include two one-night stays in Fuller's pubs and two adult tickets for a day at GoApe! Tickets are only £1 each and will be available to buy as soon as we get back after Christmas.

The social story for the relaxed performance of Midnight Is A Place is now available to be downloaded from our website. It, along with more information about the relaxed performance, can now be found on the Midnight Is A Place page, under the 'Relaxed Performance' tab.

We have spent a long time researching how to create the most effective and helpful social story possible. By taking the time to work out what we needed to include and to collect feedback from users and specialists, we believe that the social story is now ready for use by our audience.

Forest Forge is proud to announce that there will be two relaxed performances of the Christmas show, Midnight Is A Place, as part of its regional tour this winter. The first performance will be at the Forest Forge base in Ringwood on 3rd January 2013 at 3pm, while the second will be on 7th January 2013 at 6.30pm at Forest Arts in New Milton.

A 'relaxed' performance is a specially adapted version of the play, re-imagined for children on the autistic spectrum and with disabilities. The whole performance has a more relaxed approach to the theatrical experience, where noise and movement in the auditorium are completely accepted and prepared for. Other techniques that will be employed include the re-working of sound effects, keeping lights on in the auditorium and special rehearsals with the actors to soften the performance. A social story will also be available from the Forest Forge website in the near future, to aid those who plan on attending the performance at the Forest Forge base.

Playwright Richard Conlon has been working with Forest Forge to develop a verbatim-theatre project with three strands across Hampshire and Wiltshire. The ‘Cleave’ project will produce three new live events, which are part live performance and part debate.

Richard hopes that the event in its live and raw form will offer the chance, if only for an hour and a half, for a town to have a conversation with itself. He says: ‘This venture grows out of an inherent belief that people are interesting. If we just take the time to listen then there are lots of interesting stories to share. All I am attempting to do is bring together some fragments to tray and make a whole. Each performance will be different as each community is different.’

Join the Forest Forge professional creative team to discover the secrets of a Forest Forge production. Try out techniques that Forest Forge use to create their shows including multi-roleing, quick changing, exploring the use of space, audience interaction and puppetry.

Forest Forge Theatre Company, based in Ringwood, has just announced seven new business partnerships with local companies. The new relationships are designed to encourage local working.

Sophie Dubber, General Manager of Forest Forge said: “Forest Forge has always been about working locally and using theatre to improve the lives of people in the region. To carry this through we believe in using local services and providers where possible. Our new partnerships with seven fantastic local businesses are an extension of this belief.”

With the approach of Bloom, Forest Forge’s Associate Director and Bloom Designer David Haworth and Technical Manager Dom Phillips have been busy creating an interactive Potting Shed which will tour around the seven Bloom locations.

Mutterings and gnome-ish giggles have been heard coming from beyond the workshop door and today we managed to sneak a few pictures of the creation of the shed.

This term a group of young people aged 10-12 years old from Forest Forge Youth Theatre have been working with Noah Messomo, an African Storyteller and drummer to learn about and be inspired by African Storytelling. Under the direction of Lucy Phillips the cast of 15 have brought tales of King Rufus and Lovey Warne and the smugglers alive with their new found storytelling skills.

The group will be performing alongside other local groups in the New Forest as part of a full day of events inspired by African traditions. You are invited to take a walk through the Forest at either 10am or 2pm to experience the stories, music dance and art that has been created. Each walk will last approximately 2 hours and will include performances from 8 local schools.

This summer Forest Forge will be running holiday drama workshops for young people on the Autistic Spectrum on behalf of Hampshire Autistic Society and The Mayflower, Southampton.

The workshops will take place at The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton and will see the participants actually work on the stage where hits such as Oliver, Les Miserables and Dirty Dancing have been performed!

Tickets for Forest Forge Youth Theatre's re-staging of Beauty and the Beast at Ringwood Festival on 13 July 2012 are now on sale!

Beauty and the Beast - the greatest show on earth - was first staged in Devember 2011 and was a huge hit. Following its success the youth theatre are presenting it again as part of the Ringwodd Festival 2012.

On Sunday 1 July the Rotary club is holding a special sponsored walk around the Beaulieu estate. Members of the public are invited to register for an 8K, 5K or miniwalk to raise money for charity, and we are looking for supporters who would be interested in taking part in the walk to raise money for Forest Forge!

The walk promises to be a great day for all the family, giving you a chance to explore to the Beaulieu estate on waymarked routes.

2012 is an important year of celebration and Forest Forge Theatre Company has been making the most of it in Andover!

The theatre company, which is based in the New Forest, has spent the last four months working with people in the town to develop a very special theatre event called Rough Diamonds to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

Following the popularity and success of Forest Forge’s spring term of Tots the theatre company are excited to be forging forward with another ten sessions inspired by a collection of children’s stories.

Forest Forge Tots is a weekly drop-in theatre session at Forest Forge Theatre Centre in Ringwood. The creative workshops are aimed at children aged 0 – 5 years old and their parents or carers.

This spring two of Forest Forge’s Youth Theatres are coming together to present TaleChamber, a new production based on four fairy tales – Iron Hans, The Tin Soldier, The Princess and the Wizard and Bluebeard’s Bloody Chamber.

The ambitious production is performed by a cast made up of 50 local young people aged 12-16 who have joined to form one company.

Tailored specifically for children under 5, these lively creative sessions are run by experienced workshop leader Lucy Phillips. Our usual Tots leader Lisa Halpin is on maternity leave, so the wonderful Lucy will be taking over these new weekly sessions. Lucy has years of experience working with children of all ages, and is looking forward to introducing drama to a new set of young minds!

As usual, these vibrant sessions will engage and stimulate your child, using music, movement and drama to encourage a sense of play, develop imagination and build confidence. Sessions will last for 45 mins, but we’re then inviting you to stay on for a cup of tea or coffee (with juice and biccies for the little ones) and a chance to catch-up and chat with fellow parents. Regular Tots members are welcome and we encourage you to bring a friend to enjoy the fun!

Forest Forge Theatre Company has been celebrating this month after announcing its new exciting work -The Bloom Project.

The Bloom Project is Forest Forge’s new immersive theatre project that will take place from August to October 2012. It will see the company visit seven different arts and community venues in Hampshire, taking up residency in each for one week and presenting a new play that will involve the audience.

Forest Forge Theatre Company are inviting your Little Elves to get into the Christmas spirit with a series of mad-cap creative Christmas workshops.

Young people have the chance to be transformed into busy elves for two workshops to make a Play in a Day. One group will design and make the sound, lighting and the set. Another group will devise and then perform the play for family and friends at the end of their workshop. There is also a session to keep your littler elves entertained with Christmas stories and games.

As The Phoenix and the Carpet flies out on tour, the circus is coming in to Forest Forge as our wonderful Youth Theatre presents their Christmas production of Beauty and the Beast.

The production is performed by the company’s oldest youth theatre group aged 16 – 21. It is the traditional story of Beauty and the Beast which was originally adapted by Katie Mitchell and Lucy Kirkwood for the National Theatre. Forest Forge has changed it slightly to be set in a circus and each of the cast members has learnt a magic or circus skill to perform, including unicycling, juggling, magic tricks, poi and even a human cannonball!

To launch our new Community Fundraising Pack everyone here at Forest Forge wore our pyjamas in to work last Thursday to raise funds! The actors rehearsed The Phoenix and the Carpet in their pyjamas, Dom, Carl and David were building the set in their pyjamas, and Jemma, Max and Sophie pootled round the office in their pyjamas!

Lucy and Max spent most of their week in their PJs as all of the Youth Theatre sessions last week were being done in pyjamas too. All the Groups were amazing in their PJs and managed to raise a brilliant amount for doing so! A special mention to Jemma Darnley who raised £100 by herself!

In an online article, which made the headlines on the Arts council newsletter, Forest Forge were praised for our work within museums and libraries.

The article looks at our tour of Operation Oliver from 2010 and how it is going to be touring around libraries and schools again in the new year. It is the first article in a series on good work between theatres and libraries and museums so it is a great achievement to be recognised in this manner.

Theatre Skills Day – the date of this workshop has been changed to Saturday 22 October.

Forest Forge Theatre Company is a professional small-scale touring company based in Ringwood which tours Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire. We specialise in creating new productions and touring to non-theatre spaces.

Forest Forge Theatre Company is a professional small-scale touring company based in Ringwood which tours Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire. We specialise in creating new productions and touring to non-theatre spaces.

Forest Forge is inviting members’ of regional Amateur Dramatics groups to join them at their base in Ringwood for a day of workshops and theatre making skills.

David Lane, the writer commissioned by Forest Forge to write two new plays to commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary, is celebrating this week after being nominated for the national Meyer-Whitworth scriptwriting award. The Meyer-Whitworth Award is one of the largest awards for playwriting in Britain.

David Lane, who is currently working with Forest Forge on the two autumn productions of The World Outside and Born, received the nomination for his play BEGIN/END that he wrote for the Half Moon Young People’s Theatre. The production was created for teenage audiences and toured throughout the UK in Spring 2010.

This week Forest Forge Theatre Company is on the road touring a new production all about turning thirty.

Since April Forest Forge Theatre Company has been working on a very special project entitled When We Were Thirty, which has seen the company work with elderly members of New Forest communities in residential homes and day care centre’s, running reminiscence workshops with participants and helping them to think back to the year they turned 30.

Last week friends and supporters of Forest Forge gathered at the Theatre Company’s base in Ringwood to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.

In honour of the company’s long history actors, staff members and others read out short clips from four previous productions, including the very first play ever produced and Free Folk that was produced in 2010. Speeches were made by previous Artistic Director Sean Aita, founder of the company Karl Hibbert and current Artistic Director Kirstie Davis.

From today young people from Hampshire will be getting a taste for working in theatre as a group of students take over at Forest Forge!

It all takes place as part of the Elevate work experience project, that sees students from two local schools join the professional team to become the cast, set designers and technical team of the company for two weeks, before touring their performance across the county.

David Haworth, Forest Forge’s Associate Director has won ‘Dialogue’ the yearly new writing competition hosted by Salisbury Playhouse and Theatre Works. Scripts were invited from the whole of the South West, entered anonymously. The four finalists were treated to a rehearsed reading at Salisbury Playhouse on Wednesday 11th May. David’s piece, ‘First Kiss Goodbye’ about the confusing and tragic experience of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, was voted the winner by a panel of professionals. The prize for winning is a year’s professional development for David as a writer.

David trained as a theatre designer but has developed into directing and writing in recent years while at Forest Forge. He has written several plays for the Company. David said “Winning this competition has really given me confidence in my writing and is a testament to the faith shown by Forest Forge in this area of my work. I’m very excited!”

Forest Forge has lost 100% of its Arts Council core funding from April 2012. This is a major blow to the organisation but there is something you can do to help us….

On Wednesday 30 March the Arts Council, England withdrew its regular funding from Forest Forge Theatre Company starting from April 2012. The funding withdrawn is a total of over £117,000 which equates to 30% of the company’s income and over half of it core funding. This is a major blow and will mean some big changes for the organisation and even possible closure.

The Western theatrical canon is full of disabled characters: From the pathos of the blinded Oedipus to the personification of evil in Richard III, the impaired body has often been used as a metaphor for the human condition. But seldom have the plays been written from a disability perspective, or performed by disabled actors. This was the impetus for my writing ‘peeling’ in 2002 for Graeae Theatre, Europe’s foremost company of practitioners with sensory and physical impairments. I wanted to write an edgy, inventive, and humorous play specifically for Deaf and disabled actors, which used Sign performance (theatricalised British Sign Language), and reflected the experience of disabled and Deaf women. Unfortunately so often in the media, we are portrayed as the victim or the villain – the object of sympathy, or charity, or superhuman inspiration. In ‘peeling’ I wanted to create women who were witty, sexy, complex human beings who made difficult decisions about their fertility and potential offspring; women whose lives didn’t necessarily differ so much from non-disabled, hearing women’s lives.

But the women in ‘peeling’ are actors in a post-modern production of The Trojan Women – Then and Now. They are sometimes ‘on stage’ and sometimes ‘off’ – gossiping and arguing in the shadows, revealing their recipes alongside their secrets.

The cast of Forest Forge’s winter show The Wolves of Willoughby Chase recently visited Naomi House children’s Hospice near Winchester for a very special performance.

Several of the children staying in the hospice gathered around to watch members of the theatre company performing songs and extracts of dialogue from their latest production, “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase”.